A Brief History

The Jesuit Centre of Spirituality & Culture, Tearmann Iognáid, is an initiative of the Jesuits in Ireland. The initial idea led in 2006, to the buying of a house very near St Ignatius Church, in Sea Road. It was important for the original team of three Jesuits, John Humphreys, Charlie Davy and Conall O’Cuinn, that the centre be a place of welcome, offering something to people who would come and participate in activities in the house, or use the space provided, as well as a place from where members of the team would go out, sharing their particular skills and resources with others whether locally or further afield. This is still the concern of the present team which has also grown and developed in the intervening years.

The house itself is an old family house, part of a terrace. It has two large rooms and kitchen as well as several smaller ones, and is blessed with a spacious garden which backs onto Coláiste Iognáid, the ‘Jes’ secondary school. The style of the house, which feels as if it has been much loved and lived in over the years, adds to the atmosphere of welcome and hospitality which many have commented as being one of the features of the centre.

Activities organized by the centre began with prayer experiences, such as ‘Weeks of Guided Prayer’ and the popular series of ‘Deepening Faith & Prayer’. The diploma course for the training of spiritual directors offered by Manresa in Dublin was also begun in Galway and has now trained several groups of new directors. As the centre has developed so too have its activities, all of which are described in detail elsewhere on this website.

As an Ignatian centre, central to our vision are the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, and how we might make the Exercises and Ignatian spirituality in general available and in a way that is relevant to ordinary men and women of our time, especially those with whom we live in the West of Ireland. This page gives something of the centre’s origins and history. We hope you will enjoy surfing the other pages of our website, perhaps joining us in one or other of our activities and thus becoming part of our future history and development!